Month: January 2015

The Metropolitan is to Glasgow venues what the mullet is to haircuts. The party, in the case of the Metropolitan, is on the ground floor where a DJ plays until late on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Upstairs is a classy piano bar with live music on the weekends and the Balcony Restaurant which provides the perfect opportunity for people watching with views over the 19th century courtyard under a twinkling sky of fairy lights.

Merchant City has such a selection of restaurants and bars that sometimes it’s easy to focus on the shiny new venues and forget about established places like The Metropolitan which has been around for a decade. I hadn’t checked out the menu for a while but when I did, I decided it was definitely time for a return visit!

I was delighted to see an excellent selection of fish and meat dishes including mouth-watering lamb, duck and red mullet options. I was really tempted to start with the scallops with sweet potato puree and pancetta but in the end opted for the pan-seared pigeon breast which was butterflied and served on a bed of puy lentils for my starter. The pigeon was tender and the lentils in red wine jus had an after-taste of aniseed.

For my main I opted for venison loin served with parsnip puree, smoked beetroot, blackberries, parmentier potatoes and red wine jus. The venison was lovely and pink in the middle and the smoked beetroot and blackberries were the perfect accompaniment, complementing the gamey flavour to a tee.

I can highly recommend finishing your evening with after-dinner drinks in the piano bar. There’s an extensive selection of cocktails to choose from with all the classics plus a number of inventive creations. The menu also invited you to ‘Challenge Your Bartender’ to come up with a mix tailored to your tastes. I managed to resist asking for a bacon and cheese themed drink and opted for the name-sake ‘Metropolitan’ cocktail; a delight to the taste buds containing Black Raspberry Vodka, Crème de Casis, blackberries, raspberries, cranberry juice and lime. Cheers!

While everyone else has started January diets and detoxes, I’m tucking into big juicy burgers. Purely in the interests of Girl Versus Food, of course!

You’d have to be in a coma not to notice ‘The Rise of The Burger’over the last couple of years. There’s been a massive number of independent burger places join the Edinburgh and Glasgow dining scene. In fact, there’s even a fabulous blog dedicated to the humble (and sometimes not so humble) burger; check out James Vs Burger for the ultimate guide.

Read on to find out about my visits to Burger Meats Bun in Edinburgh and Jacker De Viande in Glasgow.

First up Burger Meats Bun just off Broughton St in Edinburgh (also on West Regent St, Glasgow)

The Burgers: I loved that they have both a Seasonal and a Daily Special Burger. Unfortunately, they had run out of the daily special during my visit so I went for the humorously named seasonal special ‘No Thyme Like The Pheasant’. This consisted of Breaded Pheasant, Sri Lankan Curry, White Pudding, Carrot Salad and Lime and Coriander Mayo.

BMB Burger

The burgers arrived in cute wrappers via the friendly waitress. Friends I was dining with opted for the Hot Chic chicken burger and the Smokin’ Bacon beef burger which had a nice line of pink through the middle. My pheasant burger was delicious, though the coriander mayonnaise was slightly overpowering for my taste. The Thai Chili Cheese Chips were yummy and had a considerable kick to them, not for the faint hearted!

BMB Burger and Chips

Desserts: The square dipping doughnuts were warm and tasty, and served with a blood orange dip. I’d love to see a choice of dips (perhaps a chocolate one?) next time I visit.

Dipping doughnuts at BMB

My second burger was at Jacker De Viande on West Regent St, Glasgow. The restaurant is at basement level and boldly decorated with red and white meat-themed wall mural.

The Burgers: I went for the BBQ Pulled Pork Beef Burger and my dining companion the Pulled Short Rib of Beef Burger. We were asked how we wanted the burgers cooked; we both opted for medium and they came with a perfect pink middle. It would be great to see a bit more information on the menu about what is included in each burger – not that I was at all disappointed with my burger, but it might have made the decision making process a little easier! The burgers were juicy, the toppings were great and I loved that there was a huge onion ring topping it all off! All nestled inside a lovely soft brioche bun.

Jacker De Viande burger

There were five variations of chips available; I opted for the Bacon & Cheese Fries. They were shoestring fries, well-seasoned with cheese all the way through to the bottom of the dish and plenty of crispy bacon.

Desserts: Jacker De Viande went for quality over quantity with only two desserts to choose from (though they also have a very tempting range of dessert cocktails which I intend to try next time). I opted for the homemade honeycomb and vanilla ice-cream which was deliciously creamy and came with a jug of hot chocolate sauce!

Honeycomb ice-cream at Jacker De Viande

Two delicious burgers in seven days, what a lucky girl! A great burger joint makes for the perfect relaxed evening, catching up with friends and neither of these venues disappointed. I have no idea if the burger craze will sustain through 2015, but I truly hope that both Burger Meats Bun and Jacker De Viande will be around for the long-haul.